Electric regulator



(No Model.)

J. A. VANSANT & P. S. ANDERSON.

ELECTRIC REGULATOR.

No. 387,463. Patented Aug. '7, 1888.

IN VENTOR C U a \.\l\\\\ 0 UJ (A 9 90 .H A a I O a i ATTORNEYS.

N, PETERS. PhclO-Lithognpher, Washmgwn. o. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH A. VANSANT AND FRANK S. ANDERSON, OF EASTON, MARYLAND.

ELECTRIC REGULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 387,463, dated August '7, 1888.

Application filed September 5, 1887. Serial No. 248,858. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JosErH A. VANSANT and FRANK S. ANDERSON, of Easton, in the county of Talbot and State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Electric Regulators, of which the following is a specification.

The object of our invention is to provide an improved device or means for regulating the force of the current of electric lamps, dy namos, motors, and any other apparatus or machines to which electricity is supplied from a suitable source.

The regulator consists of several parts inclosed in a casing, and is adapted to be inserted in and form part of an electrical circuit. The construction and arrangement are such that the normal circuit may be broken at will and the current caused to diverge and pass through a material in a comminuted or powdered condition, and whose relatively-low conductivity is increased or diminished at will by compressing it more or less by suitable means provided for the purpose. The compression increases or diminishes the force or strength of the current, and thereby affects the brilliancy of the light or speed of the machine to which the current is supplied. In this instance we show the regulator applied to an incandescent lamp.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side View of the regulator and lamp suitably connected. Fig. 2 is a. vertical central section of the regulator. Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the regulator on line 00 a), Fig. 2. Fig. at is a vertical section of the regulator, illustrating the position of the circuit-breaker when the circuit is normal.

The parts composing the regulator proper are contained in a case, A, which is cylindric al in form, and may be constructed of metal or other suitable material. In this instance it is made of sheet metal, and of two cupshaped parts whose edges are united by a screw-thread, as shown in Fig. 2. The regulator is placed in and forms part of the circuit of the lamp B-that is to say, one of the conducting-wires O 0 leading to the lamp is divided and its respective ends connected with the regulator.

The movable parts of the latter are contained in a non-conducting cylinder, 1, made of wood, cork, rubber, or any other suitable material. Said parts are a circuit-breaker, a compressible material through which the abnormal circuit may be formed, and a devicefor compressing such material. This material may be powdered carbon or some other form of condoctor; but we prefer a composite material consisting of a conductor, like carbon, and a non-conductor, like mineral wool or spun glass, both comminuted or reduced to powder and mixed together. The carbon may bear a proportion of two-thirds to one-third of the mineral wool; but these proportions may, however, be greatly varied. XVhen the circuit is broken, it is reestablished with less force through this composite material, and the resistance is increased or diminished at will by the degree to which the said material is compressed. The circuit-breaker, as here shown, is formed of a small non-conducting cylinder, 2, and a metal rod, 3. The said cylinder 2 is permanently connected with the conducting or circuit wire 0 in any suitable manner. In this instance the wire 0 is soldered into an externally threaded sleeve, 4, which screws into the non-conducting cylinder 1, and the small cylinder 2 is in turn permanently attached to a short metal rod, 5, which depends from the said sleeve 4. The small cylinder 2 is made of asbestus, rubber, glass, wood, or any other suitable non-conducting substance. The composite powder 6, before described, surrounds and is in contact with the cylinder 2 and rod 5, and fills half or a larger portion of the larger cylinder, 1. It may be compressed to any required degree by means of the disk or piston 7, which fits the cylinder 1 somewhat closely, and is provided with a central opening to receive the upper unthreaded portion of rod 3. The lower or remaining portion of the latter is screw-threaded and works in a threaded bore of a metal casting, 8, which forms practically thelower head of cylinder 1. To this casting 8 one end of wire 0 is attached; but we do not restrict ourselves to the screw-rod, for it is obvious the piston or compressor 7 may be adjusted by means of rods having no screw-thread and adapted to be secured in any adjustment by other means. As shown in Fig. 2, that one (0) of the conducting-wires which is not divided passes between the cylinder 1 and casing A. of the regulator; but it may he obviously arranged otherwise.

The operation of the regulator, which will now be readily understood, is as follows: When the rod 3 is screwed up, as shown in Fig. 4, its end is in contact with the rod 5, and the circuit is then normal, the current passing through the sleeve 4, rod 5, screw-rod 3', and a casting, 7, and cylinder-head 8. The lamp B will then glow with normal or ordinary brilliancy; but when it is desired to lessen the glow or brilliancy of the light the rod 3 is screwed down until its upper end is separated from the rod 5, as shown in Fig. 2, the regular or normal circuit being thus broken and the current caused to diverge and pass from rod 5, through the surrounding composite material 6, to the screw-rod 3,and thence to lamp that is to say, the circuit is then through a relatively-bad conductor, 6, and its force is therefore correspondingly diminished, so that the glow of the lamp is reduced accordingly. This reduction may be carried to any desired extent, so that only the faintestglow or pink tinge of the carbon bow can be perceived. It is thus practicable to perfectly control or regulate the light at will by simply turning the screw 3 by means of its head 9, which is accessible below the casing A.

The regulator may obviously be constructed as part of the head of the lamp proper, instead of being detached or separated from it, as shown, and this would be desirable for economical reasons.

The ordinary cut-off, 10, Fig. 1, may be dispensed with, if desired, since the regulator will perform its function almost equally well.

It is obvious that the regulator may be applied to dynamos and -motors, &c., as well as to lamps, without any change in its construe tion or manner of connection with the circuitwires.

What we claim is 1. A current-regulator consisting of a re ceptacle containing a powdered substance having a certain degree of conductivity, a circuitbreaker ,inclosed in said receptacle, and a compressor for varying the pressure upon and the resulting density of said substance, as and for the purposes specified.

2. Theimproved regulator consisting of the large nonconducting cylinder 1, the circuit breaker formed of the non-conducting cylinder 2, the electrical contact 5, an adjustable circuit-connector, 3, the powdered material 6, a piston for compressing the latter, and a rod for adjusting the piston, substantially as described.

3. In an electric regulator, the combination, with the conducting-wire 0, divided, as specified,of the non-conducting cylinder 1, the metal rod 5, and the small non-conducting cylinder 2, the surrounding powdered composite material 6, the piston 7, the screwthreaded rod 3, working in a nut at the lower end of said cylinder and provided with a suitable head for use in turning it, as specified.

JOSEPH A. VANSANT. FRANK S. ANDERSON. Witnesses:

AMos W. HART, P. B. TURPIN. 

